Nearly 30 members of the European Parliament have called on the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to apply union standards and exclude Israel from the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, similar to the measures taken against Russia. The Spanish leftist party Podemos issued an official statement to the EBU on Tuesday, stating, "The EBU has expressed its desire for the Eurovision competition to remain a non-political event where artists and broadcasters compete, not governments."
The message notes that Eurovision vetoed Russia's participation in the contest since 2022 following the beginning of the Russian military operation in Ukraine. The European Parliament members concluded by saying, "We urge the broadcasting union to act fairly and apply the same standards in decision-making, thus we request a reassessment of the decision to allow Israel to participate in the Eurovision festival."
Earlier in January, over 1,400 representatives from the Finnish music industry signed a petition to the national broadcasting company Yle, calling on them to influence the EBU to prevent Israel from participating in the music contest. Last December, the Icelandic magazine "Iceland Review" reported that the Icelandic Composers and Songwriters Association requested the national broadcasting authority not to participate in Eurovision 2024 if Israel was among the participants. The Eurovision contest 2024 is set to take place in Malmö, Sweden, in May of this year, after Sweden won the right to host the competition following singer Loreen's victory in the contest last year.
